Threats of abduction and murder last night drove a playwright into hiding, hours after her controversial drama was axed due to violent protests by members of the Sikh community.

Friends of Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti said she had fled her home and warned "mob rule" was endangering freedom of expression. Ms Bhatti, who is herself Sikh, has declined to comment, but friends hit back on her behalf after nearly 48 hours of silence from her side.

"She has been threatened with murder and told to go into hiding by the police. She is personally paying a high price," said Shakila Taranum Mann, a filmmaker. "She feels this is an attempt to censor her. It is mob rule."

Protesters say that her play Behzti - Dishonour - demeans Sikhism by showing rape and murder within a gurdwara, or temple.

But the row took a new twist as a second Birmingham theatre company offered to stage the play, just hours after officials at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre scrapped it over public safety fears.

Community leaders had welcomed that decision as a victory for common sense, while condemning acts or threats of violence. Last night would have been Behzti's first perfor mance since it was halted on Saturday night as 400 protesters tried to storm the building, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage and injuring three police officers.

Elders initially asked the playwright to transfer the drama's setting to a community centre. But discussions broke down after several weeks, and peaceful demonstrations outside the theatre escalated into violence and demands for the play to be banned. Yesterday the two sides remained at an impasse as the Birmingham Repertory Theatre announced it had no alternative but to end Behzti halfway through its run and that Ms Bhatti supported the decision.

Speaking at the city centre playhouse, where boards still covered shattered windows, the theatre's executive director, Stuart Rogers, said: "Sadly, community leaders have been unable to guarantee to us that there will be no repeat of the illegal and violent activities we witnessed on Saturday. It is now clear that we cannot guarantee the safety of our audiences. Very reluctantly, therefore, we have decided to end the current run of the play purely on safety grounds."

Kim Kirpaljit Kaur Brom, a councillor and spokeswoman for the protesters, said the decision to pull the play was right: "We congratulate the [Repertory] theatre for making its decision after we exercised our democratic rights to protest. There are no winners and no losers. The end result is that commonsense has prevailed."

A police spokeswoman stressed that the decision was the theatre's and that, as far as she knew, police had not expressed concern about controlling a large crowd. "If they had decided to carry on with the play, we would have dealt with whatever we had to deal with," she said. "Obviously we would [make clear] ... the amount of resources it was using."

Barry Hugill, spokesman for Liberty, said: "One would have thought it ought to have been possible for the safety of playgoers to be guaranteed. You cannot allow freedom of speech to be suppressed by violence."

Evan Harris, a Liberal Democrat MP, said he would be writing to the home secretary to ask why police were unable to guarantee the safety of law-abiding people performing, staffing or visiting the theatre. But Estelle Morris, arts minister and MP for Birmingham Yardley, said: "Although today is a very sad day for freedom of speech, I think the Rep has done the right thing."

At the height of the confrontation on Saturday, more than 80 police - 30 in riot gear - clashed with demonstrators, and hundreds of theatregoers, including families watching a Christmas show in the main auditorium, were evacuated. Three men arrested on suspicion of public order offences have been released on police bail until the new year.

Mr Rogers added: "We sincerely hope that the play will be produced again as we are certain that it is a work that should be seen and discussed."

That prospect moved a step closer as Neal Foster, actor-manager of the Birmingham Stage Company, said it was prepared to stage Behzti at a multicultural centre in Birmingham. "The story cannot end here. I think freedom of expression is more important than health and safety," he said.